AUGLAIZE RIVER BLOB TOP

[lepew62]

I went out fishing and looking around the Auglaize river this morning. I spent about 5 hrs wading up and back down to start point. Found several broken brown blob tops, porcelain electric insulators. One of the insulators was a very large, brown, bell type insulator. It was approx 12" - 15" long with several tiers to it, wish it had been intact. I did find one complete clear glass blob top. It is 7" high and 2 1/4" across the base. It does not have any embossing or marks on the bottom. It has two large elongated bubbles along with many smaller ones. This is the point where I will need some help. It has a swirling in the glass like it was possibly rolled, swirls run upward from right to left. I have looked very closely and carefully, I cannot find a seam anywhere. Yet, the bottom appears rounded as if it were made in a mold. It does have a small scar on the bottom, not sure if it is a pontil mark though. So what have I found people, all opinions appreciated. I wish I could get a pic up, I know it would help tremendously. As I was getting ready to exit the river I noticed some shards along the bank. I investigated more closely and found numerous pottery, crock, and glass shards. I found a couple broken brown blob tops, shard embossed Lima Oh, Bottle works, and a cork top embossed United States Medicine Co. New York. The cork top had the bottom busted out. I am not sure if this is a prior dump site, or if it is a wash site. I found a piece of iron and probed around a little bit. I did hit a few more shards and I plan on going back with proper digging equipment. I will let you know how it goes in the next few days. Thanks ahead of time for your assistance, Have a great day people.

 

[swizzle]

Really tough to help you without the pic. It sounds like you got a nice old site to check out. Can you describe the bottom better? If you ran your finger over it rather hard would it be possible to cut yourself on that spot on the center of the base. Before you log into the forums there's a button on the left that says Resources. That should help you out a lot. There's gotta be a bank dump close by if you're pulling out whole bottles. Keep looking along the banks and see what you can find. Old maps can help too. If you see where a dead end road ends just before the edge of the river then chances are you've found the dump. Swiz

 

[lepew62]

The bottom is not sharp and the scar is very small. It does not appear to have been ground down. What is confusing me most is that I cannot find a seam. The bottom appears to be from a mold, but where is the seam? I guess I will go to the puter store and see what I need to adapt my digital cam to download pics. I think once I get some pics up it will be easier for you to help. I found this blob top about a 1/4 mile upstream from the possible dump site. At the dump site there is a flat area that runs down to the river and a main road that runs above that. The current property owner actually still mows this access area. This area is downstream from the town, so it is possible they dumped there downstream from the town. I can only excavate the bank as the area above is private property. Sorry about the type, this thing does as it pleases. I will do what I can about getting some pictures up in the near future. Thanks for your time everyone.

 

[mr.fred]

Sounds like you might have a nice dig coming your way[]-------Best of luck on it. Nothing better than a bank dig[&:]. Fred.

 

[madman]

yes ill agree with mr fred bank digs can be sweet

 

[swizzle]

It sounds like the bottle was turned. They had a method or 4 for wiping the seams off the bottle. I wanna say turn mold. I think they turn them in the mold and they also turn and wipe the bottle to help erase the seam. Sometimes if you hold them up just right you can still see part of the seam. It'll look like a ghost seam. Swiz

 

[lepew62]

That seems to be the plausible explanation. I did as advised and held it to the light. Still did not see a seam, maybe the artisan was an expert wiper. I did notice that the blob is very irregular around the base. Any idea as to a possible date for this bottle if it was made as you said. I did go back out to the river today and found an embossed 1 qt local beer bottle. It is a city brewing, wapakoneta ohio.

 

[swizzle]

Red Mathews = Go To Guy

I'm not sure on the date. I know wine bottles and water bottles were turned recently. Seems like I've found turn mold bottles in dumps as early as the 1950's and 60's. I'm not sure who you could ask in here that could give you an in depth, detailed description of the whole process. [] Swiz